Ski poles are your friends. They help you maintain proper form and balance, as well as help you get across the flat spots. The only people that shouldn't use poles are kids that cannot parallel yet, true beginners, snowboarders, and park skiers that desperately need to look like snowboarders. So if you aren't one of these categories, you should be using poles.
Sizing poles is easy. Just use the ski pole Sizing chart to give you a good estimate of what length of poles you should be using.
Ideally, your arm should be parallel to the ground when you grasp the pole (with the tip up) below the basket.

There are cases when you can go longer or shorter than what the chart recommends:

If you are a bump skier, you should size down 2-8 inches.

If you want an aggressive stance for steeps and higher speed skiing, size down 2 inches.

If you are doing a lot of park skiing, size down 2-6 inches

If you Telemark, size down 2-6 inches

If you are powder skiing a lot, size up 2 inches.

If you are ski jousting, size up 4-12 inches

We have thousands of poles to choose from, and if we don't have your size, any of our poles are easy to cut to length.

Description

Details

Aluminum poles are known for being light but strong with minimal swing weight, which makes the Salomon Arctic a very popular choice for free riders and great for any type of skier. These have mid-sized baskets which will work well on hard snow but are wide enough to stay on top of the powder without sinking. If you can't decide on a pole, take a good hard look at these. They are exactly what you're looking for.

Aluminum Construction: This pole is made of lightweight aluminum, which has a very high strength to weight ratio, and they are quite stiff.

Adjustable Nylon Strap: A nylon strap with easy adjustment ensures the poles don't get away from you after jumping off that big cliff on the backside of the mountain. Or with some imagination, they can help you carry a pair of skis.

All-Mountain Baskets: Baskets that are big enough for powder and small enough for groomers. Basically they are a medium size that will get the job done well enough in any terrain or conditions.

18mm Diameter: The diameter at the top of these poles is a beefy 18mm to give it greater strength. The pole tapers down to a smaller diameter toward the tip to save some weight.